Vol, Slave of Bolas – Let’s start this thing off with a bang, shall we? For most casual players, the chase card in any modern expansion is the inevitable planeswalker card. We know that Jace, Sarkhan, Nissa, Chandra and Sorin are all present on Zendikar. The only one that has failed to materialize thus far is Sarkhan. I am predicting that he will be the only planeswalker card in Rise of the Eldrazi. Five is enough for any block considering Alara only had five, in total. If you didn’t catch the reference, this card is a play on Slave of Bolas. Vol is apparently working for Nicol Bolas on Zendikar guarding the legendary Eye of Ugin, and it is clear that he is slowly losing his sanity. Thus my predictions of abilities that affect both you and your opponent. He’s a bit unstable these days, you see. While I can’t possibly predict each of his abilities, mana cost and starting loyalty, this is our best guess on the almost certain inclusion of Sarkhan Vol.
More Dual Lands – There comes a point when there are so many dual lands in standard that it can’t possibly hurt to include 10 more! That seems to be the attitude with the Zendikar block as Worldwake brought us even more dual colored lands. Rise of the Eldrazi is said to be a stand-alone drafting set so you’re going to need a few dual lands to get that going in limited. I can’t tell you what the lands will look like, just that they’ll be there, without a doubt. I’d expect lands that have to do with Eldrazi spells costing less or two more. Personally, I think the idea of lands that come into play tapped is a bit played-out and I’d like to see Wizards try something else. Though, Amulet of Vigor can help you with that if you’re not feeling Alara’s tri-colored lands.
Ghostfire is in – There’s a debate raging right now over the simplest of cards. Ghostfire premiered in Future Sight and refers to the Eye of Ugin so many people assume it’s a shew-in for RotE. On the other hand, the card isn’t an “Eldrazi Spell” so it won’t get any bonuses from the Eye, or any other card that denotes “Eldrazi” as a type. Perhaps we’ll see a quick errata here in the coming days. My own prediction is that the card will be included in the set at a common rarity. It isn’t a horrible limited card and could easily grab a bonus from anything buffs that RotE might give colorless spells. Not a great card out of context, but I think the evidence points ever so slightly to its inclusion. Expect to see other colorless cards within the same vein; overpriced, but when paired with something like Eye of Ugin come in as great additions. Imagine eight Lightning Bolts coming your opponent’s way in one deck!
Eldrazi are expensive… Help! – From all flavor indications, the Eldrazi are giant, world-wrecking beings of nearly unlimited power. That kind of energy is sure to cost a lot of mana. Eye of Ugin tells us a lot about how expensive these guys will be by suggesting that we’ll “need help” casting them and/or finding them in our library at the right time. Look for more cards like Eldrazi Temple and the Eye to help you get these guys out quicker.
Rumors are always true… in Fantasy! – Last year, a mysterious poster on the popular forum mtgsalvation dropped a spoiler-bomb on the MTG community. He claimed to have access to Eldrazi-ish information and threw up a few quick notes on the set. The first was an ability called “Annihilate X” meaning - “When this creature attacks, the defending player sacrifices X permanents.” A fitting ability for a giant, world ruining race of Eldrazi, no? It seems overpowered at first but I think these Eldrazi “gods” will cost an arm and a leg to get out. Basically, I think the entire game will be focused on either summoning these guys, or preventing their summoning. Either way, “Anihilate 1″ wouldn’t be so bad on a giant creature. The second ability was something called “Level Up X“. Meaning - pay X, put a level counter on this creature. Level up only as a sorcery. What those levels will entail, we can only guess. This one is tad more believable because we’ve already seen it on at least one card. Figure of Destiny is a fan favorite that was never really thought to be overpowered. This ability also seems both plausible and fun. The same rumor monger also had a full card to “spoil” called Eldrazi Temple who’s mockup is featured to the left. This card caught my eye in particular because it included the phrase “Colorless Eldrazi Spells” which, at the time, hadn’t been seen before (this was at least a month before “the Eye” was spoiled). Now, whether or not this guy got things mixed up with an early copy of Eye of Ugin– only time will tell, but this card seems likely as well!
Eldrazi equals Giant, Colossus-esque gods of Magic the Gathering – Prepare to feast your eyes on some of the most powerful creature cards ever printed. As I said eariler, all signs point to these guys being huge, and hard to deploy. My thought is that the Eldrazi will be Legendary beings with unique names, perhaps 10 or 15 of them in the set. They’ll cost an arm and a leg but it might just be worth the price considering the power I’m expecting these guys to pack. They might even include the aforementioned “Level Up” ability. Maybe they need to do some good old fashioned grinding before they become even remotely terrifying! Some have even speculated that an entirely new card type will be created for the Eldrazi. Doubtful in our humble opinion but who knows how these freaks will work! They will, of course, be colorless but it remains to be seen if they’ll actually be “artifacts” or they’ll include colors in their mana cost (ala Ghostfire) whilst remaining colorless. Either way, these guys are going to be huge, often indestructible, tramplers with crazy abilities.
Even more Allies, Vampires, Elves, and Kor – *possible spoiler alert!* We already know that Sorin and Nissa band together (along with their respective tribes, I presume) to defeat the Eldrazi. I presume that the Kor and even Goblins will also follow suit if the fate of their world is at hand. I think allies, as well, were created to go up against these guys. If you take a look at our Memnor mockup above, you can see that this is probably a group of dedicated allies attempting to bring down the cloud giant. Expect a heavy Braveheart style “Unite the Clans” theme going on. For this you’ll need more actual ally, elf and even (yes, more) Vampire support! It seems as though everyone in the multiverse– Bolas, Sorin, Jace, Elves etc thinks that letting the Eldrazi run free is a bad idea. They must be at least moderately badass to scare a 10,000 year old dragon, after all. It will take the entire multiverse to stop them.
A perfect for lead in for the new “Artifact-centered” block this Fall – This prediction may not be proven or disprove by the time we know everything about Rise of the Eldrazi. Rumor has it (and you know how I love rumors!) the next block will be a return to Mirrodin. This news comes from a recent trademark registration by Wizards that included the names: New Phyrixia, Scars of Mirrodin and Mirrodin Pure. Colorless cards and lands that produce colorless mana will mix very will with an upcoming artifact block. A colorless heavy block will also be a great way to say goodbye to the multicolor bonanza brought to you via Alara. Mirrodin was also Magic’s “Hay day” and I think Wizards is ever so eager to recreate that success. If these rumors turn out to be true (and I’m betting they will), we’ll look back at the Rise of the Eldrazi spoiler list and think: “What a brilliant move to make right before an entire block of artifacts…“
Alright kiddos, you know the drill. We’ll take a look at these predictions as soon as the set is released this April 23rd, 2010. Make your mark on MTG history by posting a comment here, early enough to count, with your very own predictions. If it comes true, you can tweet me with an “I told you so!” every day for the next three years. You know I’ll be doing the same!
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i completely understand where everybody is coming from about ghostfire…kinda would not make sense for it to not be in the set. however, could they not make ghost fire an eldrazi spell? i mean there is no way in hell they would have printed instant -eldrazi back when it came out, that would just be too confusing but now that its coming around i wonder…or if they just made a card called colorlessfire(whatever) and made it the same but also made it eldrazi…that would indeed be amazing. also…if they do all this colorless stuff i wonder if they will dip into multicolor a bit again, i know how you guys here feel about multicolor but we did see a bit of it hitting zendikar with worldwake. if sorin and nissa get together maybe we can see some elvish vampires…or a llanowar dead reprint!
They can’t reprint Llanowar dead because Llanowar is on anouther plane. Although it’s possible that a tweaked card with a new name and maybe a new keyword might make it.
your right, i wasnt thinking. but yes a varient would be cool. though in today with the insane mana producers we have i guess llanowar dead would be pretty much just a chump card.
Interesting tidbit in Doug’s article today about vampires
“Interestingly, the vampires of Zendikar have an almost innate certainty that they were once oppressed and abused as a race, though the specific memories of their oppressors have largely been lost. It’s thought that many vampires feel justified in their predation of other races as a result of this subconscious, subjugated history.”
Perhaps it was the Eldrazi who used the Vampires as slaves etc back in time. Certainly gives the vamps a reason to keep (put them back) the Eldrazi down
What about Turri Island from Planechase?
Nobody has spoken about that.
I think that will be a part of RoTE. Just look at its abilities.
More relevantly, look at its subtype: Ir. That’s the name of the actual plane it’s on. So unless Zendikar is also known as Ir, that place won’t be in RoTE.
I’m fairly certain it isn’t in Zendikar. The one creature we know from it, Fiori Nomad doesn’t look like it’s from Zendikar.
I imagine we may see “artifact” instants and sorceries. I also imagine that they might come out with something that says, “If an artifact returned to your hand this turn, you may do something” because Razor Boomerang is soooo bad.
the eldrazi are not artifacts. they are just colorless. and there will be colorless instants and sorceries as well.
The idea of artifact instant and sorceries somehow seduces me. Mechanicaly it would be just like sorceries and instants, but it may have its twists. Like “when CARDNAME enters the battlefield sacrifice it. If this was cacrificed this way DO THIS. And the instants would have flash. Maybe we’ll see some of this on the rumored artifact block of next fall. It can interact as the artifact lands did, without broke (more and more) affinity. I mean, they would be usefull to triggers ETB-artifacts.
you guys really think a tricolor planeswalker will come out? white still doesn’t have a planeswalker out for this cycle.
There’s already a tricolor planeswalker.
yeah, in the last block. i mean in this cycle, i’m just hoping it will be a white one.
For the color wheels you get out of Zendikar or Worldwake starter decks, it shows Jace, Sorin, Chandra, Nissa, and Elspeth. Since the first four have shown up, and white’s missing the planeswalker for Zendikar block…do you think Elspeth’s coming back? Or what?
there should be a five color planeswalker
On the subject of reprints, would it be out of line to predict a reprint of Inferno? Maybe even Mutilate? I think it wouldn’t be out of place for a sweep or 2 that destroys largish creatures in a set with titanic creatures. It would certainly make them a lot more playable.
Do you think we are gonna see tezerret in the artifact-block, he si after all a sort of artifact-planeswalker
For sure.
He is the main character in a new planeswalker coming this Fall, if that doesn’t give it away by itself.
Yeah sure, just after he manages to heal after having his mind destroyed by Jace and being left at the mercy of a pllayful Nicol Bolas, I’m sure he’ll be up and about in no time.
Which means he will probably be Black and Blue, no pun intended, when he comes back.
Thank you very very much, Woodsmithy. Thanks to your preview I make the following prediction:
Sarkhan Vol will not be a white planeswalker. I mean, come on, it’s impossible and it has no motivation. So I think he, after the battle with Jace and Chandra, lost his spark, just like Ob Nixilis. I believe Nicol Bolas, Sorin Markov and Ob Nixilis made the pact to imprison the Eldrazi, and that that pact was sealed by sacrificing the spark of Ob Nixilis (obviously not volontarily, not on Ob’s part at least). So now the Eldrazi are threatning to come out again. The three imprisoners have met up to check the Eldrazi don’t get out, while the three young ‘uns are interfeering. They accidentally free the Eldrazi, sacrificing Sarkhan’s spark. Nicol Bolas then would obviously have to turn up as well.
So, I think Sarkhan Vol will be a non-planeswalker card, red-green with maybe a bit of black. I think the fifth planeswalker will be Nicol Bolas, going along with the “gold few but powerful” theme, but not as potent as the Alara version, as he is still licking his wounds after his fight with Ajani. Last but not least, I think there will be a white planeswalker we don’t know nor can guess to. My reason for that prediction is that 1: Wizards are always going to keep the colours as balanced as they can, and omitting a Planeswalker when all the other colours have a monocoloured one in the Zen block would be very unbalanced; 2: that seeing as Rise of the Eldrazi is a 250 card set, one planeswalker would be a little too little.
Thats just what I think… Sorry for the long comment, feel free to reply with what you think.
I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but a few months ago on Twitter, Mark Rosewater asked what plane players would most like to see revisited. Could this question have been motivated by work on the return to Mirrodin?
If Sarkhan becomes a white planeswalker, I guess I’ll have to make a deck around him XD (better than promising to eat a hat or quit the game). It would be great though if Serra has been resting on Zendikar for a very long time.
Also I think that there will be a white planeswalker because in Alara they had one for each shard: Naya:Ajani, Bant:Elspeth, Esper:Tezzeret, Grixis:Nicol Bolas, and Jund:Sarkhan Vol. Each of the shards’ main colors are green, white, blue, black, and red respectively, so in a way they did the whole color pie in Alara.
And what if they did something crazy in Eldrazi and include, say, more than one planeswalker to break the pie? Example:
Ugin 3WUBRG
Ugin is colorless.
+1: Put a Ghostly Prison token into play.
-2: Swords to Plowshares.
-12: Remove all permanents your opponent controls from the game.
Starting loyalty: 5
Here’s a tip: Before you make renders, learn some templating. Those cards are pathetic. How can I enjoy beautiful renders if they are mistemplated?
Hey, no need for such harshness.
I assume everyone’s already read today’s Arcana article. If you haven’t take a gander: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/396
Looks like Memnor was pretty damn close to right, and Annihilator was right.
Definately will be a white planeswalker in ROtE, and after seeing the speculation about Marit Lage being Eldrazi in addition to already being known to be able to move between planes until ‘trapped’, I’d like to think that She will be released as (potentially) a colorless planeswalker costed at about 7 or 8 Colorless mana.
Is Sarkhan real? Something about it seems… I dunno.
the spoiler said that there would be more than one planeswalker. and over the last 2 sets i have had the idea that Cosi, might be another planeswalker included in this set. though i have no idea what he will do, i speculate that his colors will be red and blue. just a thought i had.
my biggest complaints about the sarkhan, SoB card (lol sorry) are: the clearly incorrect card #, the color scheme being false, and the complete lack of, in my opinion, feasible playability in any deck but really old blue/red control.
I noticed in the article that Reinhart mentions Mirrodin was Magic’s “Hay Day.” Can anyone expand on this? I vividly remember thinking Mirrodin was not that fun and a huge reason why I stopped playing for a couple years. Obviously, my opinion was that Mirrodin was not fun – and that other people have different opinions – I just would like to know why Magic regards this set in their “hay day”. Thanks guys!
It’s tough to get numbers on MTG sales.. if not impossible.. but several MTG employees have said that Mirrodin is when Magic was at it’s peak.. most players, most sold cards etc.. Other than that we can’t prove anything. Magic is moving in that direction again today to be sure.
Cool! I would totally agree that Magic is most definitely on the rise right now. I can’t even remember the last time cards in standard have been so sought after (Baneslayer, new Jace, etc.) – even if I don’t necessarily enjoy them! Haha!